Page 27 of The Awakened Wolf

“I’d like to assure you all,” he said, his voice recognizable, but no longer filling the heavens, “that everything is going to be fine. Not only am I the world’s leading expert on shifters, but I am also the world’s leading hunter of them.”

Uh-oh.

A hushed murmur rolled around the crowd and lay still.

Hunter? Who is this man? There are no hunters of our kind.

My wolf was indignant, but all I could think was that my knees were a bit un-knee-like at the moment and I really could use a seat. But if admitted it, Evan would start picking out names, and they would only be marginally better than Sebastian’s wolf’s picks. So I leaned against the back of Kiana’s chair where my sister’s gaze was fixed on Godwin, her back as stiff as a pike, fingernails digging into her thighs.

“I know it will come as a shock to many of you,” he continued, “to learn that creatures you’d once believed to be fairy tales are in fact, real, and more importantly—” he paused for effect, “—dangerous.”

The clips from the park kept rolling in a loop in the split screen as he spoke.

The crowd was dead silent.

“For centuries they have lived among us, hiding in plain sight, and wreaking all manner of unknown havoc. Yet their numbers were small. Their impact slight. With modernization, everything has changed. They’ve grown more numerous and as a result, bolder. Now they aren’t content to live in the shadows. They want to come out and take what’s ours. They want to make our children into shifters to further grow their numbers. Do you see how modern media tries to normalize their kind? Make them out to be heroes? We cannot let that happen.”

There were murmurs of agreement now. I sagged against my sister’s throne, suddenly grateful I wasn’t the one having to sit there for all this.

“Well, you don’t have to worry,” he said, his gravelly voice sounded strange in a croon, as if unused to forming soothing sounds. “Godwin Moone is here now to Keep U.S. Human.”

The crowd roared, chanting the slogan I’d first seen sprayed over Cody Chism’s face in the subway with Sebastian. Godwin smiled and nodded, gesturing lazily for them to settle down.

“What are we going to do?” I murmured.

“Who is this asshole?” Kiana hissed.

“My wolves here are specially trained to track shifters. While they are safe to all of you, Gary and Frecky carry an incurable virus that kills shifters within days. We know that several of the shifters from the park were successfully infected, though we arrived too late to have as much impact as I would have liked.” He shook his head, mournful over his failure. “Still.” He brightened. “It is only a matter of time before the infection spreads to the other shifters in the city and surrounding areas. Trust me, folks, you’ll be safe again very soon.”

The crowd had grown five-fold since Moone began, swelling beyond the reporters and cops who attended every press conference to include several hundred onlookers. They spilled over sidewalks and medians and shimmied up light poles to get a view and listen. Now when Moone paused, they went bananas, cheering, stomping, and banging on whatever they could find to make noise.

I gave up my fight to stay upright and melted onto the arm of Kiana’s chair. Evan wrapped one arm all the way around my shoulders and collarbones, holding me together. It should have been heartening to see that many of the reporters, including the two stunned anchors, weren’t cheering. For the most part. A few seemed to be wriggling with delight as they mouthed “Keep U.S. Human” with the chanting crowd.

Maybe that was why the news studio suddenly cut to a reporter outside the gates of a Spanish-style mansion in L.A., where it was still dusk.

“Yes, Conner, Laila.” the reporter greeted her colleagues, her voice trembling with excitement. “I can confirm that the creator of Alma Mater Animalis has not been in or out of her home all day.”

While she spoke, a clip of Cody Chism taking off his shirt played on loop. It was the best thing that had happened in the last thirty minutes since I’d seen the real thing, but it only reminded me of the depth of the hole we were in. Kiana’s eyes bored into me like twin augurs.

I shrugged. What was there to say?

“Honestly, none of this would have happened if that awful woman had cast me instead of Finn Wolfhard,” Evan said. “I’m much more bear-like!”

Kiana snorted but kept her thoughts to herself. For once.

“But,” the reporter-turned-stalker added, “we will stay as long as it takes to get her statement. We’ve also attempted to interview cast members but so far no one has said a word. We do have an anonymous source, however, saying that production on Season Three has been delayed indefinitely.”

The anchors thanked the reporter in L.A. before turning back to the aftermath of the press conference, where reporters were interviewing onlookers who’d heard Godwin’s perplexing speech. My attention was pulled from my concern that my sister was moments away from murdering me—but then, what else was new?—back to the screen by the vociferous proclamations of a young man behind the woman being interviewed.

He waved from behind her, video-bombing the interview. “What that guy is saying is not what really happened in the park today! I know, I was there!”

“Wait, what?” I said. “Turn it up a little. I want to hear what this kid is saying.”

“Are you saying that the Governor is lying to us?” One of the reporters who’d been chanting along with Godwin’s supporters jammed her pink-foamed microphone in his face.

At this, the young man frowned, unsure. “All I know is that guy,” he pointed at Godwin Moone, “has to be stopped. He’s lying about his wolves.”

Before he could say another word, the reporter whirled away, stopping to interview an older couple who—surprise, surprise—were thrilled that Godwin Moone was here to turn things around and keep NYC for humans only.

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